Agenda item

To accept and approve the use of Better Care/Disabled Facilities Grant funding received from Lincolnshire County Council to contribute funding to an extension of the Lincolnshire Good Home Alliance Advice and Casework service (report of the Assistant Director Communities and Housing Services enclosed).

Consideration was given to the report of the Service Director – Communities and Housing Services which sought acceptance and approval of the use of Better Care/Disabled Facilities Grant funding received from Lincolnshire County Council to contribute funding to an extension of the Lincolnshire Good Home Alliance Advice and Casework service.

The Portfolio Holder for Strategic and Operational Housing introduced the report and sought cabinet approval to accept additional disabled facilities grants funding for 25-26 and to allocate part of that funding to support the continuation of the Lincolnshire Good Home Alliance Advice and Casework Service.

The Good Home Alliance was launched in September 24 as a county-wide partnership involving all the Lincolnshire districts and the County Council. It was funded by contributions from both the county and district councils and the two-year pilot was initially funded to the 30^th June 2026, with the aim to help residents of all ages live safely, warmly and independently in their homes. Through the Good Home Alliance online resources, a new healthy home assessment tool and a dedicated advice and casework service, the Alliance provided clear information, practical support and hands-on help for vulnerable residents who may struggle to navigate undertaking repairs, improvements or accessing funding.

An independent evaluation by the London School of Economics had been funded by the Centre for Ageing Better and was demonstrating that the model was delivering real benefits, reducing hazards, improving wellbeing and offered strong potential value for money as more cases progressed.

In its first year alone, the casework service supported over 200 referrals, completed improvements to 40 homes with a further 28 households having works underway. Half of the 153 cases closed in the first year, received advice and guidance and engaged thousands of residents and professionals across the county.

To date, the service had received more than 470 referrals, with more than 90 of those being for South Holland residents. Referrals had been received from a wide range of partners, with the South Holland Disabled Facilities Grants team and Wellbeing Links being some of the highest utilisers of the service.

It was explained that the service was primarily accessed through referrals, including from residents contacting Wellbeing Links and other partners. Health professionals were aware of the service, and residents were also able to self-refer via the website. The service was promoted through both online and face-to-face engagement, with proactive outreach at local events and fairs, resulting in strong links with third-sector organisations. Overall, the service was well known and easily accessible to both professionals and individual residents.

DECISION:

That Cabinet:

1.    Accepts the additional allocation of £67,398 Disabled Facilities Grant funding for 2025/26 received from Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) and:

a.    Approves the use of £32,946 to contribute funding to a 21-month extension of the Good Home Alliance advice and casework service from 1 July 2026 to 31 March 2028, funded in total by Lincolnshire District Councils and LCC contributions and hosted by East Lindsey District Council; and

b.    Approves the use of £34,452 to support the delivery of DFG and, where appropriate, Discretionary Housing Financial Assistance (DHFA).

2.    Approves amendment of the Council’s capital and revenue budgets to reflect the above decisions and as set out in financial section of the report.

(Other options considered:

·         (‘Do nothing’) To allocate the total additional DFG funding for received 2025/26 to support the delivery of DFGs and where appropriate, DHFA. This option does not deliver against the SHDC commitment to support the delivery of identified actions within the Lincolnshire Homes for Independence Blueprint for people to live independently, stay connected and have greater choice in where and how they live. This option does not support the continued development of the work that has been undertaken between the Centre for Ageing Better (AB), Lincolnshire County Council (LCC), and all participating Lincolnshire District Councils to deliver against a key recommendation of the AB Good Home Inquiry “- placing a duty on local authorities to ensure every authority has a local ‘Good Home Agency’, a public-facing hub providing access to information and advice, finance schemes, and a range of home improvement services including maintenance and repair, accessibility adaptations and energy retrofit”

·         To allow the pilot to cease on 30 June 2026 at the end of the current funding period and consider reestablishing the service and model on receipt of the final evaluation report in September 2026. This option would see a loss of skills, knowledge and experience gained during the initial pilot period due to fix-term contracts ending, and result in significant service disruption to existing recipients and partners of the Good Home Alliance. GHA evaluators have noted that caseworkers have proven to be adaptable and effective practical problem solvers, having been able to build relationships of trust with clients, which has often required significant time and patience. The skillset developed by caseworkers in the first year is identified by evaluators as one of the project’s biggest assets.

Reasons for decision:

·         The Lincolnshire Good Home Alliance provides information and signposting – via the Good Home Lincs resources, hosted on Connect to Support Lincolnshire – and additional advice and casework support for more vulnerable clients, where additional assistance is required to address housing condition issues.

·         The advice and casework pilot is funded by participating Lincolnshire councils for a 2- year pilot period to 30 June 2026. The Centre for Ageing Better has funded an independent evaluation of the pilot period, to provide an evidence base for further development of the Good Home Hub model, both locally and nationally.

·         Evaluation of the first year of GHA delivery indicates that the benefits of the service and model are potentially high. Positive effects in terms of reduced hazards and greater client wellbeing began to appear as the first cases were closed, and the flow of benefits is now accelerating. In the next phase of the evaluation, evaluators will collect more robust evidence on the type and magnitude of benefits, including importantly reductions in public-sector costs, to inform a more detailed cost-benefit analysis.

·         Overall, however, evaluators note that the experience of the first year suggests that the advice and casework service represents good value for money. A final evaluation report, covering the full 2-year pilot period, is expected in September 2026.

·         The additional in-year DFG allocation announced by Government in February 2026 provides sufficient funding to meet South Holland District Council’s identified contribution whilst maintaining existing DFG and DHFA delivery.

·         Engagement with participating council leads has identified support for continuation of the current service model for a further 21 months to 31 March 2028, and retention of the incumbent advice and casework officers within ELDC.)